Brad

Lots of discourse about municipal speed cameras.

To those opposing speed cameras: is it okay to go faster than the posted limit? If yes, what should the limit be? What would stop us from raising the limit to that number?

From Wikipedia, a painting of a banquet happening inside the Thames tunnel. The picture shows a large banquet table with lamp posts nearby as guests are eating at the table. It’s clear that the walls and ceiling are that of a tunnel.

We don’t just need nation-building projects, we need to build excitement for new projects! Bring back the culture of hosting banquets in the new projects.

Make new projects an ✨experience✨ for influencers and the public. The victorians had the right idea on this.

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thames_...

LLM Coding (Part 1) Given discourse I’ve seen on BNN, on Bsky, and in my professional and social circles, 2025 is the year that LLMs made their way into many peoples’ lives and workplaces. I’ve heard…

I'm sure I'm not alone in having workplace opportunity to problem-solve using LLMs - I wrote about my method here:
bradarsenault.com/2025/09/11/l...

Junk mail flyer from Marie-France Lalonde titled “Build Canada Strong” - it has prominent social media handles on the bottom: her website, Instagram, X (yes, the updated logo), and Facebook.

It makes sense my MP is still advertising that she’s on Elon’s app

Toronto, the biggest city in the province where the BlackBerry was invented 30+ years ago, just got ubiquitous cell service on its subway in the past 12 months.

Farm Boy now stocks *bleached* paper muffin liners.

THIS is a 🇨🇦 (Ottawa) recession indicator

To call a spade a spade: Ottawa City Hall parking is inconvenient (“more secure”) on days when there are progressive protests

A screenshot of driving direction options in Apple Maps indicating work to home will take 1 hour (41km) as fastest option.

Yup summer commuter traffic is back 🙃

My workplace beige flag is I’m always going to miss the 1st call because I switch my headset on before clicking answer

If one didn't know better you'd think Ottawa was a company town supplied almost exclusively by Costco.

I see Costco socks (you know the Puma ones) just about everywhere I go in this city.

A CNN news notification : The convicted killer crab walked between two walls and pushed through the newly installed razor wire to break out of prison, authorities say

*crab-walked

Ottawa’s OTrain airport station facing the exit toward airport. At the left are seats typically seen next to gates in the airport beside a glass wall. At the centre and right of the picture are signs indicating “Exit, Terminal” with sliding doors.

Still thinking about how Ottawa airport’s O-Train station has airport seats (left in the below pic)

That’s a good touch.

One more opportunity to sit in the airport benches.

Single detached #OttawaRE under $600k is a recession indicator, right?

As I’ve mentioned before: weekend Ottawa transit is too expensive for what it is: $4/person each way, especially for couples, friends, or families.

While no doubt costly, if the city is serious about supporting weekend business and leisure, providing a free (or perhaps cheaper) alternative to driving in bad traffic is a no-brainer.

To celebrate the good weather and free transit I took a bus west-bound to try out the new airport link train.

The bus *flew* past the highway traffic and the train went under the race. Almost a bit thrilling.

This is a free transit weekend for Ottawa.

It also coincides with major road closures downtown for a cycling race (today) and substantial east-end highway construction this weekend (long red traffic lines on Google Maps).

A fire table after sunset with garden lighting in the background

9. Backyard fire tables

One other thought: Ottawa gets weather (precipitation, cold winter, hot summers) and most stations are open-air and without cover from above. This means entering the station->boarding a train isn’t free from poor weather.

As a disclaimer: Given where I work and live and my household composition, these are not *for* me.

It’s nearly $4/ride and with a 2-person household, driving/parking or Uber are both faster and cost-competitive.

But for those who live and work/study on the train lines this’ll be a game-changer.

I was so pleasantly surprised how much more spacious the high-floor Line 2 vehicles are than the Line 1 LRVs. They also lacked the screeching roughness of Line 1, especially noticeable at corners.

Perhaps as a logical trade-off, the Line 2 vehicles are had more tepid acceleration than Line 1.

Both lines offer level entry (awesome for accessibility), easy turnstiles (pay by credit, Presto, tickets/passes).

Line 1 is electric; Line 2 is diesel.

A line 1 train at an underground station

Line 1 opened in 2019 with small(er) LRT vehicles (trams/streetcars). It’s now the backbone of Ottawa’s public transit system.

I moved to an apartment on Line 1 just before it opened in 2019 because I could take the train to work - a poor choice given Line 1’s tumultuous launch and early months.

An O-Train line 2 vehicle pulled into an open-air station

Last weekend I rode the recently reopened/upgraded O-Train Line 2. It was awesome!

I have had at least 2 year’s worth of cold/flu in the past month.

I am so looking forward to the end of viral season.

Still frame from the Windows 98 Space screensaver. It shows a starry expanse in the background, a nebula in the top-right, a space station in the centre of the frame, a satellite to the right, an astronaut on the lower left, a moon in the lower right corner, and a galaxy in the top left and bottom right. It's a true 1999 masterpiece.

*wiggles eyes to dismiss screensaver*

BREAKING: “We will build at a pace not seen since the 2nd World War.” Mark Carney announces he wants to double the pace of housing construction in Canada, half a million new homes/year. He wants the Federal Govt to get back into affordable home-building. Billions in housing loans/grants announced.

As someone getting settled into a new company I am so grateful they recorded virtual lunch-and-learns in the covid era that are still on Sharepoint. As a new on-board, these are a great way to learn not only material but also the lingo and turns of phrase.

Ready to stand up for Canada.

I always enjoy the thoughtful points made on The Missing Middle podcast (@mikepmoffatt.bsky.social and Sabrina Maddeaux) and this week’s was no exception. This week: the Canadian election.

“Scarcity vs precarity” sums up a lot of what I’ve been feeling and hearing.

overcast.fm/+ABD0ZYlRZew...